FOG HORN News Blast 27 May 2010

DARPA Moves Ahead With One Shot Phase

2 Enhanced.
By: Sal Palma

Military snipers, when properly employed, have played a major role in modern warfare.
Throughout history, snipers have been known to hold entire platoons at bay, and highly effective snipers can
wreak havoc by damaging command and control, and demoralizing troops. Because of their devastating
potential, they are also highly sought out targets; for that reason, snipers operate in teams and employ
techniques to conceal their presence.
Proficient sniper teams must possess and master
numerous skill sets; land navigation, field craft,
marksmanship and observation are just a few. Due to
the demands placed on sniper teams they have
developed a Jedi Knight persona and USMC Gunnery
Sargent Carlos Hathcock is Joda.
One of the many challenges faced by military sniper
teams falls in the area of external ballistics. The sniper
must correctly estimate range, wind and environmental
factors; such as, temperature, barometric pressure and
humidity in order to develop a firing solution. The
matter becomes more complex if the target is moving
and as range to the target increases.
Photo Courtesy of Sal Palma

For example, a sniper engaging a target at 1000 yards with a .308 platform needs approximately 36 minutes
of elevation and an indeterminate amount of windage. To gain an accurate view of the problem faced by the
sniper, I’ll discuss the actual dynamics and my comments are specific to the M24 SWS.
A 175 grain projectile leaves the muzzle of the M24 SWS at an average speed of 2600 feet per second. At
that velocity it takes roughly 1.4 seconds for the bullet to travel 1000 yards. Along its path, it may travel
through areas of warm humid air with patches of colder denser air and is exposed to the effects of wind,
which may be continuously changing in magnitude and direction. Currently, all of those estimates are made
by the sniper with no empirical way of determining their “real” value. This makes long range precision
shooting very difficult, and more of an art than a science.
As a result, at long ranges, snipers may require multiple shots to hit their target, which expose the team to
detection; this is expressly true when the combatant has access to sniper detection technologies.

Copyright, Sal Palma dba Twobirds-Flying Publication, 2010. All rights reserved.
 FOG HORN News Blast 27 May 2010
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has funded design and development of a “One Shot
Sight” for deployment by sniper teams across the Joint Services.
The One Shot Project 1 seeks to develop a man portable system that will determine range to the target, wind
speed and direction along the projectile’s flight path, target coordinates, temperature, barometric pressure
and humidity. Utilizing this data, “One Shot” will calculate a firing solution, which is then sent, via wire or
wirelessly, to the sniper’s rifle scope, which will then illuminate a dot or crosshair indicating the correct aim
point offset.
One Shot is to accomplish the task using a day /night optic, referred to as the Integrated Spotter Scope or
ISS, and will provide a firing solution in real time.
This is unquestionably an ambitious project; however, I would wager a small fortune that it has sniper teams
rolling on the floor in uncontrolled laughter.
What One Shot fails to take into consideration is variability in ammunition, rifle-to-rifle variances,
inconsistencies in optics and erraticism in aerodynamic factors during bullet flight time; not to mention cold-
bore shoots and a few other anomalies. At short ranges these factors are not all that significant; however,
their effect is amplified logarithmically as ranges increase.
I for one hope that it works, and that it will provide our snipers with a better tool; however, until such time
that I see and/or witness the results, my money is on the man behind the trigger and his spotter. And, may
the force be with them.
-SP

 Federal Agency Name – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),

 Adaptive Execution Office (AEO)
 Funding Opportunity Title – One Shot Phase 2E
 Announcement Type – Initial Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
 Funding Opportunity Number – DARPA-BAA-10-67
 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA) – N/A
 Dates
 Posting Date – May 21, 2010
 Proposal Due Date
 �Final Closing – 1200 noon (ET), July 8, 2010
 Anticipated Individual Awards – Up to two awards are anticipated.
 Types of Instruments That May Be Awarded – Procurement contract or other transaction.
 Technical POC – Dr. Deepak Varshneya, Program Manager, DARPA
 EMAIL: DARPA-BAA-10-67@darpa.mil
 FAX: (703) 741-3880
 ATTN: DARPA-BAA-10-67
 3701 North Fairfax Drive
 Arlington, VA 22203-1714
 Total amount of money to be awarded $7,000,000 (Base).

Copyright, Sal Palma dba Twobirds-Flying Publication, 2010. All rights reserved.